Wick for lighters



Feb. 16, 1954 A. F. REILLY wxcx FOR LIGHTERS Filed Dec. 11, 1951 lilll!willll. wvwogg llll FIG?) FIG.2

m md mR E.. d m IH A ATTORN EYS Patented Feb. 16, 1954 WICK FOR LIGHTERSAlfred F. Reilly, Taunton, Mass, assignor to Evans Case 00., acorporation of Massachusetts Application December 11, 1951, Serial No;261,050

This invention relates to a wick such as may be variously used but inparticular is adapted for use in a lighter where sparks are thrown froma friction wheel to the wick for ignition of the same.

Wicks in cigarette lighters are frequently formed of abraded glasstubing which has capillary properties to transmit fluid fuel from a tankin which the wick is placed to a location where burning is desired. Thefuel is of a character which readily gasifles so that when this gas andair are mixed, the mixture will be ignited by a spark thrown toward thewick. In wicks of this character, although the glass is not combustible,it frequently frays when the flame is allowed to recede and the glass isallowed to become heated to an extent that it crystallizes and fallsaway.

One of the objects of this invention is to prevent the wick fromcrystallizing at its end, which occurs especially when the fuel is lowin the supply tank.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wick which will causethe fuel to emanate from the sides of the wick rather than the top endof the wick so that it will burn in a low, blue, hot flame.

Another object of the invention is to provide a better wick in a simpleand efiicient manner.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a fragmental portion of a lighter,illustrating a wick formed in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the wick alone as positioned in atubular support;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but illustrating the flame as itwould occur in connection with the wick shown; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the wick alone, showing the passage ofthe fluid fuel out of the sides of the wick as the fuel is transmittedby capillary action.

With reference to the drawings l designates a fuel casing in which thereis Provided some absorbent material H such as cotton, ground corn cobs,or the like. The case has a top wall l2 with a boss l3 extending throughthe top wall and providing a support for a wick l4 and its tubularsleeve l5, which sleeve is provided with a flange IE to engage the upperend of the boss and be deflected to provide a beveled sealing 4 Claims.(CI. 67-70) surface IT for a snufier cap I8 carried by arm !9 which isactuated by the finger piece 20. This sleeve l5 may be deflectedinwardly as at 2| so as to restrict the flow of fluid fuel by capillaryaction along the wick.

In order to restrict the flow of fluid out of the end 22 of the wick, Ihave provided a coating 23 over the end of the wick as shown at 24,Figure 4, and slightly down the sides of the wick as at 25. This coatingis of a character to prevent the flow of fluid fuel out of the end 22 ofthe wick and thus cause the fuel to pass out of the sides 26 of the wickas shown by the arrows in Figure 4.

The coating which is provided will be of some material which will beinfusible at a heat which will be developed by the flame. A high bakingsynthetic lacquer or high baking cement as a binder in which zirconiumdioxide has been mixed has been found suitable for this purpose. Theamount of zirconium dioxide will be present in the binder in a range ofup to percentage by weight, but this is not important, as the binderburns off, leaving the zirconium dioxide. The end of the wick is dippedinto this composition to a depth of substantially 1 g of an inch andthen is baked according to regular enamel baking schedules.

By this procedure a hardened tip is provided which seals the end of thewick and holds the ends together so as to prevent fraying and by thesealing of the end of the wick in this manner, the fuel will beprevented from passing through the end of the Wick and will accordinglypass through the sides of the wick adjacent the end. This control of thefuel co-operates with the control of the fuel by the deflection 2| andretards the fuel to such an extent that flooding is prevented.

Other compositions such as lacquers, or silicon enamels, or most anyrefracting material may be utilized in place of the zirconium dioxide.This zirconium dioxide has a property of being incandescent andinfusible and is found to serve very well in this connection, but otherrare earths such as titanium, lithium, and so forth, may be used in themixture of the bonding material with some one of the heat resistingelements used in the coating.

I claim:

1. A wick for a lighter or the like comprising an elongated elementhaving capillary properties for the conveying of fluid fueltherethrough, a coating of heat resistant refracting material over theend of the element, said coating being impervious to the passage of fuelout of the end of the element and bonded to the end of the elementcausing passage of the fuel out of the sides of the element adjacent thecoated end.

2. A wick as in claim 1 wherein the coating is a high baking heatresistant material.

3. A wick as in claim 1 wherein the coating contains an infusiblecompound.

4. A wick as in claim 1 wherein the coating contains zirconium dioxide.

ALFRED F. REILLY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberNumber Name Date Grube Oct. 6, 1903 Horn Mar. 8, 1910 FOREIGN PATENTSCountry Date Germany Jan. 25, 1893 Germany Apr. 21, 1921 Great BritainMay 9, 1936 Germany Sept. 2, 1941

